The first (rather obvious) particularity of the Vaja case is its price. I am certain most other reviews have mentioned this aspect, but I feel I must mention this again: this case is EXPENSIVE. While the Covertec case we covered (no pun intended) retails at about $40, the Vaja case weighs in at a rather heavy $120. There are some things that justify this humongous price tag, but all the same, this case is somewhat aimed at people who would take a Prada bag over a Mr. Bobby's 100% Leather Bag, and who abide the unwritten rule, "if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it"; i.e., anybody who bought a NR70 in the first place.

Let's delve more into specifics here, though. One thing that may pleasantly (or unpleasantly, depending on your preferences) surprise you is how Spartan the case is. There are no credit card or Memory Stick holder slots, nor a pen holder slot, not any other slots or openings. On the other hand, the case is molded to perfectly fit your NR70, with openings matching those of the NR70 in all places except the IR/Memory Stick slot. The upside of this is that it makes it redundant to have a penholder slot since you have access to the Clie's slot on the bottom. By contrast, it's a bit unfortunate that the IR port and the Memory Stick slot are so difficult to get to; but I think Vaja's logic here was, "when it [the Clie]'s open, you can't access either of the ports anyway, so all is well". I guess it works for some people, while others might not like it so much, since it prevents a quick beam-up or a quick Memory Stick swap without taking off the case. As well, if you are a NR70V owner, you may find that the camera can't really take pictures of anything other than yourself, which may or may not be fine by your personal standards. Conversely, the Hotsync port is easily accessible, allowing you to connect external peripherals rather seamlessly - such as, for instance, if you have a portable keyboard or a travel Hotsync cable. You cannot place the Clie in its cradle with the case on, however - for reasons discussed in the Covertec article (basically, the Clie fits into its cradle much too tightly to allow for a case to be put on it, too). For some reason, also, the case does not close completely, as can be seen in the picture; but I suppose that's the leather being brand-new and rather inflexible. I expect it to change with some use.

As I mentioned above, the case does not have any pockets or slot holders. However, it makes up for that in other things, for instance, the quality of leather. It feels a lot more like an old-fashioned, high-quality antique item. Just out of curiosity, I asked my neighbour (guy) and another friend (girl) to pick the Covertec or the I-Volution. My neighbour, after a brief hesitation, went for the Covertec, "since it has some storage pockets", he explained. The girl, on the other hand, immediately picked the I-Volution, without even hesitating. When I asked why, she said, "it feels and looks more expensive, and feels better". Go figure. The I-Volution, however, is perfectly molded to the Clie case, which I like, with some reservations, though. Specifically, the jog dial molding sticks out so much that controlling the jog dial becomes somewhat of a challenge at times. Aside from that, the molding is quite immaculate, and lets you access just about all of the important holes and openings, except, as I mentioned, the MS slot / IR port.